This invention relates generally to pneumatic paintball guns (xe2x80x9cmarkersxe2x80x9d). More specifically, this invention relates to pneumatic paintball guns that use electronic circuitry to control one or more paintball gun operations.
Paintball is a fast-paced game, and players must be able to fire quickly and accurately to be victorious. Until recently, paintball was played with purely mechanically-operated pneumatic markers. With the introduction of electronic paintball guns, however, a new age in paintball technology was born. Along with electronic control came the ability to precisely control the timing of gun operations. Precise electronic timing enabled much higher firing rates than previously considered possible. The electronic circuitry also made it possible to program these paintball guns with varying firing modes such as semi-auto, 3 or 6 shot burst, turbo, and even full-auto modes. In addition, the extremely light triggers made possible by use of a trigger-actuated microswitch made it possible for users to easily reach high firing rates even in pure semi-automatic mode.
FIGS. 1A-1C are schematic illustrations of two representative conventional electronic paintball guns and a block diagram of a conventional electronic circuit for controlling those guns, respectively. More specifically, FIG. 1A is a schematic cross-sectional view of a representative conventional electro-pneumatic paintball gun 100A. FIG. 1B is a schematic cross-sectional view of a representative conventional electronic sear-type gun 100B. FIG. 1C is a schematic block diagram of an electronic control system 170, such as used to operate the conventional electronic paintball guns 100A, 100B of FIGS. 1A and 1B, respectively.
Referring to FIGS. 1A-1C, the electronic control system 170 of each of these paintball guns 100A, 100B is similar in its primary components. A trigger 118 is configured to actuate a microswitch 128 when pulled. In response to the trigger pull, the microswitch 118 sends a signal to an electronic control circuit 130 to initiate a firing sequence. The electronic control circuit 130 in turn sends a signal to a solenoid operated mechanism 132 to carry out the firing operation.
Referring specifically to FIG. 1A, a conventional electro-pneumatic paintball gun 100A includes a body 110 and a trigger/grip frame 120 housing a trigger 118. An electronic control circuit 130 is typically mounted in the grip frame 120 either in the grip handle 122 or a receiving tray 124. A power source (battery) 126 supplies power to the electronic control circuit 130. A trigger-actuated microswitch 128 is arranged in electrical communication with the electronic control circuit 130, and a solenoid actuated valve 132A is electrically connected to the electronic control circuit 130.
In operation, when an operator pulls the trigger 118, the trigger contacts and actuates the microswitch 128, sending a signal to the electronic control circuit 130. The electronic control circuit 130 responds by sending one or more firing signals to a solenoid of the solenoid actuated valve 132A to control a firing operation of the paintball gun 100A. During the firing operation, the solenoid actuated valve 132A directs compressed gas to a pneumatic piston and cylinder assembly 140. More specifically, pneumatic pressure directed to the piston and cylinder assembly 140 from the solenoid actuated valve 132 drives the piston 140A forward. A hammer 145, connected to the piston 140A, is also driven forward until it strikes a firing pin 144 of a firing valve 142 to fire the paintball gun 100A.
Referring to FIG. 1B, a conventional electronic sear-type paintball gun 100B also typically includes a body 110, a trigger/grip frame 120 housing a trigger 118, and an electronic control circuit 130 powered by a power source 126. A trigger-actuated microswitch 128 is also arranged in electrical communication with the electronic control circuit 130. Unlike the electro-pneumatic paintball gun 100A of FIG. 1A, however, the electronic control circuit 130 of a conventional electronic sear-type paintball gun 100B is connected to a solenoid-operated sear releasing mechanism 132B.
In operation, a pull of the trigger 118 in the electronic sear-type paintball gun 100B closes the microswitch 128, sending an actuation signal to the electronic control circuit 130. The electronic control circuit 130, in turn, sends one or more firing signals to a solenoid of the solenoid-operated sear releasing mechanism 132B to fire the paintball gun. In particular, in response to the firing signals from the electronic control circuit 130, the solenoid drives a rod that contacts and releases the sear 134 from a hammer 145. Releasing the sear 134 allows spring pressure to drive the hammer 145 forward to strike a firing pin 144 of a firing valve 142 and fire the paintball gun 100B.
Using a trigger-actuated microswitch to initiate the firing sequence provides an increased ease of firing and a corresponding increase in the maximum achievable firing rate as compared to conventional mechanically-actuated paintball guns. Unfortunately, however, electronic trigger systems of conventional electronic paintball guns have several problems.
Among other problems, conventional electronic paintball guns must be set to a safe mode or turned off completely before the trigger is rendered inactive. Otherwise, the gun will fire if anything presses against the trigger. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the electronic trigger on many electronic guns can be too easily adjusted. Unfortunately, this means that the trigger may be made so sensitive that simply jostling the gun will cause it to fire. The trigger may be made so light, for example, that the paintball gun may fire unintentionally when set down or bumped. During non-game time, accidental firing presents a serious safety issue if a barrel plug is not in place; and, at the very least, becomes inconvenient for a player who must clean out the barrel when a plug is in place. During game time, unintentional firing may result in the accidental elimination of the player themselves or a teammate. It is therefore desirable to have a trigger mechanism that protects against accidental firing.
At the same time, however, another problem with conventional electronic triggers is that if the trigger is made too difficult to actuate, the force and motion required to fire the paintball marker will adversely affect the accuracy of the marker, as well as the speed with which the marker can be fired.
It would be desirable to have a way to permit extremely easy intentional actuation of an electronic trigger system, while at the same time more effectively preventing accidental actuation of the triggering mechanism. The industry would be benefited by an electronic paintball gun having a trigger assembly that is easy to fire at a rapid firing rate, yet difficult to fire accidentally.
According to one aspect of this invention, a touch trigger optimizes accuracy of a paintball gun because only a very light contact by an operator is required to fire the paintball marker. In contrast to some competition firearms, which have a xe2x80x9chair triggerxe2x80x9d that requires very little force to move the xe2x80x9chairxe2x80x9d required to activate the firearm, the touch or xe2x80x9cairxe2x80x9d trigger, according to a preferred embodiment of this invention, preferably activates without requiring any trigger movement, and instead requires only slight contact with the user""s skin or a specialized glove, for instance, to actuate. Accordingly, a marker constructed to implement various principles of the present invention can be held still while firing. Rapid fire is also optimized because the trigger does not need to move.
According to another aspect of this invention, safety can be improved by configuring the trigger to respond only to the touch of the person holding the gun. In this configuration, neither jostling nor even a direct impact to the trigger by any other object will cause it to fire.
According to one specific embodiment, a touch trigger can include a touch plate. A touch trigger circuit, which can be integrated directly into the electronic control circuit or can be a separate circuit, preferably energizes the touch plate to detect contact made to it by a gun operator. If used to retrofit an existing electronic marker, the touch trigger circuit can be used in place of the conventional electronic trigger and its physically-operated microswitch. When the touch trigger circuit detects a touch on the touch plate, the circuit preferably closes a switching mechanism such as a relay. The touch circuit can be configured to sense only a touch by the operator, or can be configured to respond to any contact with human skin or a specially-adapted glove, for example.
In various alternative embodiments, a paintball gun can incorporate multiple touch plates on a single trigger to enable faster firing or to enable different firing modes, for example. In one specific alternative embodiment, the trigger can include two touch plates. Touching only a first touch plate could, for instance, initiate a semi-automatic firing mode. Touching only a second touch plate could, for example, initiate a burst firing mode. And touching both touch plates simultaneously could activate a full-auto firing mode or some other firing mode or feature. Any other number of touch plates can be used and configured to perform any desired function(s) when actuated. In addition, the touch plates need not be arranged on the trigger, but can be arranged at any desirable location on the paintball gun or remote from the paintball gun.
In yet another alternative embodiment, a hybrid triggering system could be implemented in which a user could selectively choose a touch activation system or a conventional microswitch activation system. Still other embodiments will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art and are within the scope of the invention.